Phil Gould

If you dish it out ... Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is slammed into the turf by Newcastle forward Dan Tolar. The hulking Roosters prop revelled in the physical exchanges yesterday. Photo: Getty Images

The Sydney Roosters ended a five-match losing streak yesterday with a gutsy victory against Newcastle.

It was a valuable win for the Roosters. They had not won since round four. They were missing 11 players from their top-25 playing roster. Their most recent form had been so poor that they had not managed to score more than 13 points in a game for five weekends.

Mind you, they scored only two tries for a total of 12 points again yesterday. It was, however, a far more accomplished and spirited performance than I've seen from them in a while. From the opening whistle there was an enthusiasm and aggression in their play that had been missing in recent appearances.

When a team is down on troops and confidence, coaches usually resort to the tried-and-tested formula of simply running hard and tackling hard. The Roosters were obviously on such an assignment against the Knights.

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The home side dished out the punishment both with and without the ball. They swarmed in defence to constantly dominant opposition ball-runners. In possession, the Roosters forwards ran with a "get-out-my-way-mentality". It wasn't overly scientific - but it worked. It proves again that rugby league can be such a simple game.

If there was a statistic that measured physical ascendancy, the Roosters would have been clear winners yesterday. The winning margin was slender but they won the battle of the hitting by the length of the home straight.

I also enjoyed the increased ball movement from the Roosters. Last weekend against the Sharks they were painfully boring in their approach. This week the ball sizzled along the line as they tried to run the Newcastle forwards off their feet.

The catalyst for this improved attacking mentality is undoubtedly having Braith Anasta playing at five-eighth. For some reason, when Anasta plays at No.6, the Roosters look more expansive with their play. It doesn't matter whether Todd Carney or Mitchell Pearce plays at No.7. It just seems that either of the Anasta-Pearce or Anasta-Carney combinations ignites the side better than the Pearce-Carney combination.

Anasta isn't afraid to play on both sides of the field. He doesn't get locked into one corridor of influence like the majority of playmakers in the NRL. He seems to get everyone excited and moves the ball more than the other boys are prepared to do.

The other major factor yesterday was the rampaging performance of dynamic young front-rower Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. He was awesome. He imposed himself on the game and totally outpointed the entire Newcastle pack on his own. This is a man who believes he can will things to happen on the field. He ran the ball like he had been fired from a cannon. In defence he launched himself into tackles. He wasn't handing out cuddles. He was out to inflict pain on his rivals. The intimidation was obvious.

Others to impress were forwards Aiden Guerra and Willie Mataka. Hooker Jake Friend gets through a mountain of work every weekend. He was great.

Not much joy for the Knights, I'm afraid. The final score flattered them. They were never really in the contest, although it must be said that some resilient periods of try-line defence allowed them to stay in touch on the scoreboard long enough to mount a belated challenge.

The Knights' forwards failed to make their presence felt. They were soundly beaten.

The visitors' lack of consistent go-forward made life very tough on the Newcastle playmakers to generate anything even remotely dangerous. As a result, most of their attacking play headed across field and backwards. This put no pressure at all on the Roosters' defensive structures.

The Newcastle kicking game was also ordinary. It was a bad day all around. Granted they, too, were missing as many as nine players from their ranks, however their problems revolve more around attitude and lack of genuine grit than loss of key personnel. There is no easy way to play the game at this level. They would be wise to stop trying to invent one.

All in all, it was an average standard of game played between two depleted line-ups in front of a poor crowd. Typical of what happens this time of year when representative football and poor scheduling drains the clubs of talent and the fans of enthusiasm.

Still, a win is a win, and it was obvious the Roosters wanted it more than the Knights. They deserved their success.

3 comments so far

All of the games this round have been diabolical. And that includes one team who were totally unaffected by Origin, the Tigers. It's possibly the worst round of rugby league I've ever seen.

Commenter

Lionel

Date and time

May 23, 2011, 9:17AM

I think Gus is being too kind to Anasta. Yesterday and the last few weeks he has made howling errors at the end of sets putting pressure on his team. This is at times when the team should be looking to the captain to lead the way. Yesterday he knocked on in his own half coming out of trouble and put in poor kicks such as an overweighted bomb that was easily fielded in goal by the opposition thus handing over possesion and losing momentum. Against the Sharks he threw a number of wayward passes that ruined attacking movements. I cant believe he hasn't been criticised by league pundits for his poor form.

Commenter

Sam

Location

Sydney

Date and time

May 23, 2011, 12:01PM

Looking at the State of Origin. I kind of wish there was a best and fairest type of competition, you know you get the best but also the "best" out on the field. i know there's a thing about winners but there are some great sportsmen out there that don't get the headlines and I think should see more of it for the kids and the like to aspire to ... this is where Braith comes in, I can't think of a bad thing that the guy has done off or on the field and I'm from Victoria which says something; I'd like to see guys like Braith more a focal part of the game. It's good game and maybe step away from popularism and hunting for headlines perhaps; and there's more god guys I think out there not just Braith of course.